Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Triple The Fun, Triple the Flours

The October bread for the always-up-for-something-new Bread
Baking Babes, an awesome carrot bread brought to us by the adventuresome
Heather at Kitchen of the Month Girlichef was a fun bread to make. It has three kinds of flour (rye,
wheat and rice), and overnight sleep to add flavor, and a crunchy, crackly
topping that I've heard called a tiger bread finish. Inside there are grated
carrots, carrot juice, sunflower seeds (and, n some, parsley) so there is a lot
going on with this bread. I love the texture of the topping and really love the
tight crumb and mellow flavor. It is not overwhelmingly rye in flavor, nor
carrot, nor wheat, just a nice combination of all those with some warmth and
texture from the sunflower seeds. Great fresh from the oven and just lovely
toasted. Have not tried it yet for grilled cheese, but I can see that it would
be an excellent sandwich bread, especially grilled.

I only made half the recipe, using the measurements from
Astrid. That was a great help having the measurements already halved, but I
found that I needed a whole lot more water both for the poolish and for the
dough. When I put together the rice flour topping, I decided that it was too
thin with the measurements given, so I added more rice flour. I like how the
topping turned out that way. It stayed on the loaves just fine and crackled
when the shaped loaves rose, too. Baked, it was nice and crunchy.

I'll bet you want to be a Bread Baking Buddy this month and
try out this wonderful, unusual bread, right? Once you do, send Heather an
e-mail with your take on it, plus a photo or two. We'll be looking for you. While your are surfing the Internet, be sure to visit the other Bread Baking Babes. The links to their blogs are at the bottom of the post, and on the sidebar, too. Happy baking!

Dissolve
the yeast in the water, and let sit a few minutes to bloom. Whisk in the flour
until smooth - if it is very thick, continue whisking in more water until it is the consistency of a thick batter. Cover
with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours; at this point
it should be a bit bubbly.

Day 2: Baking Day

In
a large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook attachment),
dissolve the yeast in the carrot juice and additional water, let sit
a few minutes until it looks creamy (bloomed). Add the grated carrot, the
lesser amount of bread flour, and the poolish to the bowl. Knead on low
speed for 3
minutes. If the dough doesn't seem too sticky, then don't add any more of the
flour; it will firm up as it is kneaded (plus you have more to add to it).

Add
the oil to the bowl and knead for another 8 minutes. Add the salt, increase the
speed, and knead until elastic, about 7 more minutes. At this point, the dough
will not be sticky any longer. Use the extra flour, a tiny bit at a time, to
remedy the dough if it is as you knead. Add the toasted seeds, and gently mix
in.

Place
the dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl or container and cover. Let sit for
60-90 minutes, knocking the dough back halfway through. To knock the dough
back, remove it from the bowl and set it on a work surface. Use your hands to
knock the air out of it. Fold the edges towards the center to form a cushion.
Replace in the container, seam side down.

Day 2, later: Making the Crackle Glaze (Topping)While the
dough is rising, dissolve the yeast in the water in a medium bowl. Whisk in the
remaining ingredients. It should be spreadable, but not runny, (which
might mean whisking in more rice flour as I did). Cover with plastic wrap and allow to
sit for at least 30 minutes before using.

Day 2, even later: Shaping and BakingTurn the
dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 2 equal parts.
Form the
portions into two
round balls, and cover them with a clean tea towel. Let rest for 10 minutes.

After the rest, shape each circle of dough into an oblong loaf, by gently
pressing ball down into a circle and then tucking/rolling into shape. Set
loaves, seam side down, onto a lightly floured bread peel or thin cutting
board. Glaze the loaves generously with the crackling glaze (you'll have a lot
of leftover glaze), and leave to rise at room temperature for 60-75 minutes, or
until the dough has doubled in size and the surface is crackled.

Place
a baking stone into the oven, and preheat to 475° F during last 20 minutes or
so of rise time.

Slide
the loaves onto the stone (let them rise directly on a baking sheet or two if
you don't have a stone - slide that into preheated oven) and spray generously
with water. Close oven door. Lower the temperature to 400° F after 5 minutes.
After another 10 minutes, open the oven door to let in a little air. Repeat two
more times (every 10 minutes).(I
skipped the spray of water and only opened the oven once, about halfway through
baking to turn the pan in the oven. Crust was still awesome this way.)
Total baking time will be
about 45
minutes. Remove bread from oven
(loaf will sound hollow if bottom is tapped) and cool on a wire rack.

Yes wasn't that a lovely topping texture! More water for the poolish! that was an understatement but at least we had a description of "thick batter" that will get you there. Funny you found the topping to thin, I found it too thick ... but then I used barley flour so maybe it doesn't compare. Half, yes I started out thinking I'd do half ... but then I mixed all the polish and just went with it. Now I'm glad I did because it made such lovely toast, went with the split pea soup oh so well, made glorious grill cheese ... and tomorrow the last loaf will make stuffing for roast chicken!

So funny we all had our things with the poolish. Measurements are great but this time the description was better right?Never thought to use baby carrot food. Smart thinking. Wish I had sunflower seeds, love what they add in flavour and crunch.

Your bread sure does look great and more of an orange tint that Heather's. I still have to make mine so seeing what you and Astrid did to adjust it is perfect. Definitely a great bread as part of a savory dinner.

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